Have you ever stopped to think why the California Bar Exam has
one of the lowest pass rates in the nation? It's not because of
the MBE; that's the same in every state.

The essays are nearly 40% of your score

The essays are one point shy of 40% of your Bar score. And California's
essays are the toughest I've seen in the nation. California tests
the finest points of law, the exceptions and limitations to rules,
and it does so in complex, convoluted fact patterns that rarely
identify the issues for you.

Moreover, the issues that the essays concentrate on are not the
same as the issues the MBE stresses. But most students study one
set of outlines that covers everything, both the law for the MBE
and for the essays.

Concepts are enough for the MBE

The average student looks at the massive bar outlines and understandably
figures, with this amount of material, the test must cover broad
concepts only. The student guesses that all he needs to do is
to understand the concepts, which is all he could possibly accomplish
in two months of study.

And you practice thousands

But most students supplement their study of the law for the MBE
by taking thousands of practice questions and learning the law
by repeated exposure. Most students do not supplement their general
study of the law for the essays. They rely on the encyclopedic
outlines and are fooled into thinking all they need for the essays
is general concepts.

Essays require clear rules

Some students do practice writing essays. But rarely do they write
enough to get exposure to the range of issues that are frequently
tested. And, unlike MBE questions, there's no objectively correct
answer and explanation; the published answers can't be counted
on for the rules and the issues raised.

You can't improve your reasoning by reading answers

Of course, writing essays isn't just knowing the issues and the
rules. It's also reasoning. Students cannot self-assess their
reasoning by reading a model answer. They need someone to comment
on the way they wrote the essays and how they could reason better.
Unfortunately, most students find the course they took does not
give them that help. If you practiced taking the test as much
for the essays as you did for the MBE--and if you were told exactly
what rules to memorize and you got reliable feedback that improved
your reasoning--the California essay exam wouldn't be so hard.

For one out of three a big Bar course isn't enough to pass

That is exactly what you get in the Writing Edge course. I've
already identified for you the fifteen or twenty issues that are
repeatedly tested in each subject and for which you must know
every nuance and detail of the rules.

I make sure both in lectures and in grading your essays that you
understand these issues. And then you practice eight full days
of bar exams under exam conditions. One person, Vivian Dempsey,
a former Bar essay grader, grades and comments extensively on
every test you write.